Our 2024 Braden Schneider report card enters an even larger realm of subjectivity than our other report cards. Schneider was finally given a steady defense partner for the entire season, something he just didn’t have in years past. He was also given a very clear role as a third pairing defenseman, getting mostly neutral zone shift starts against depth opposing players.
Not exactly a noted scoring defenseman, Schneider responded by adding one assist (14) and one point (19) to his career highs, also tying his career high in goals (5). Anything Schneider does on the score sheet is a bonus, as he’s mostly relied upon for defense and getting the puck out of the zone.
In 580 minutes with Erik Gustafsson, the pairing was fine, if unspectacular. They were close enough to a 50% xG share and high danger chance share that we can call the pair a success. They also had a 51% shot share, so I think that’s a safe conclusion. However, his 205 minutes with Zac Jones saw a downturn in all of these numbers. It wasn’t a sharp downturn, but it wasn’t insignificant either.
It’s also worth noting that Schneider’s numbers did take a similar dive in all his minutes away from Gustafsson. Naturally, Gustafsson had a positive impact on Schneider.
We see the positive impact in Schneider’s isolated numbers, with some clear work to be done in managing quantity of shots against. While this looks bad, it’s also a significant improvement on last year’s numbers. Schneider isn’t a top pairing defenseman, so expecting all blue isn’t fair. But as a third pairing defenseman within the system of limiting quality chances, he was just fine.
We certainly want to see improvement in his game in two areas: Limiting chances against and a better first pass out of the zone. Part of this is on his own growth as a player, but like we’ve been saying all offseason, part of it is also with the overall team’s ability to get out of the zone. Hopefully better center depth throughout the season helps, as a big breakout improvement comes from centers circling back to provide breakout options.
Overall, Schneider was fine. He saw steady improvement in his game, but there’s still a ways to go before he can solidify himself as a top four defenseman. He will get that chance this season, with Jacob Trouba likely serving as the 3RD going forward.
